Now that the farewell tear is dried, The graceful form of milk-white steed, For him who bore the world! But thou, perhaps, (alert and free Though robbed of many a cherished dream, Yet will the wanderer sometimes pine With thoughts which no delights can chase, My song, encouraged by the grace As with a rapture caught from heaven, PART II. WITH nodding plumes, and lightly drest On their descendants shedding grace, But truth inspired the bards of old Afloat beneath Italian skies, Where'er was dipped the toiling oar, No vapour stretched its wings; no cloud Of all its sparkling rays disarmed, Or something night and day between, Like moonshine, but the hue was green; Still moonshine, without shadow, spread On jutting rock, and curvèd shore. Where gazed the peasant from his door, And on the mountain's head. It tinged the Julian steeps-it lay, But fancy, with the speed of fire, The statues ranged round the spire and along the roof of the cathedral of Milan, have been found fault with by persons whose exclusive taste is unfortunate for themselves. It is true that the same expense and labour, judiciously directed to purposes more strictly architectural, might have much heightened the general effect of the building; for, seen from the ground, the statues appear diminutive. But the coup d'œil, from the best point of view, which is half way up the spire, must strike an unprejudiced person with admiration and surely the selection and arrangement of the figures is exquisitely fitted to support the religion of the country in the imaginations and feelings of the spectator. It was with great pleasure that I saw, during the two ascents which we made, several children, of different ages, tripping up Awe-stricken she beholds the array And virgin saints-who not in vain Sees long-drawn files, concentric rings wings The uplifted palms, the silent marble lips, Thus after man had fallen, (if aught Lo! while I speak, the labouring sun O ye, who guard and grace my home I ask in vain-and know far less THE THREE COTTAGE GIRLS. How blest the maid whose heart-yet free From love's uneasy sovereignty, and down the slender spire, and pausing to look around them, with feelings much more animated than could have been derived from these, or the finest works of art if placed within easy reach. Remember also that you have the Alps on one side, and on the other the Apennines, with the Plain of Lombardy between! * Above the highest circle of figures is a zone of metallic stars. [tear Beats with a fancy running high How blest (if truth may entertain Her beauty dazzles the thick wood; cares ! "Sweet Highland girl! a very shower t Of beauty was thy earthly dower," + See Address to a Highland Girl, p. 147. When thou didst pass before my eyes, And there shall bloom, with thee allied, THE COLUMN, INTENDED BY BONA PARTE FOR A TRIUMPHAL EDIFICE IN MILAN, NOW LYING BY THE WAY-SIDE IN THE SIMPLON PASS. AMBITION, following down this far-famed slope Her pioneer, the snow-dissolving sun, While clarions prate of kingdoms to be won, Perchance in future ages here may stop; Taught to mistrust her flattering horoscope By admonition from this prostrate stone; Memento uninscribed of pride o'erthrown, Vanity's hieroglyphic; a choice trope In fortune's rhetoric. Daughter of the rock, Rest where thy course was stayed by power divine ! [thine, The soul transported sees, from hint of Crimes which the great Avenger's hand provoke. [guined heath; Hears combats whistling o'er the ensanWhat groans! what shrieks! what quietness in death! STANZAS COMPOSED IN THE SIMPLON PASS. VALLOMBROSA! I longed in thy shadiest wood [floor, To slumber, reclined on the moss-covered To listen to Anio's precipitous flood, When the stillness of evening hath deepened its roar; [to muse To range through the temples of Pæstum, In Pompeii, preserved by her burial in earth: [their hues; On pictures to gaze, where they drank in And murmur sweet songs on the ground of their birth! With a hope (and no more) for a season to come, [debt? Which ne'er may discharge the magnificent Thou fortunate region! whose greatness inurned, Awoke to new life from its ashes and dust; Twice-glorified-fields! if in sadness I turned From your infinite marvels, the sadness was just. Now, risen ere the light-footed chamois retires [guarded with snow, From dew-sprinkled grass to heights Toward the mists that hang over the land of my sires, From the climate of myrtles contented I go. My thoughts become bright like yon edging of pines, How black was its hue in the region of air! But, touched from behind by the sun, it [silver hair. now shines With threads that seem part of his own Though the burthen of toil with dear friends we divide, [fanned Though by the same zephyr our temples are As we rest in the cool orange-bower side by side, [withstand: A yearning survives which few hearts shall Each step hath its value while homeward [appears! we move ; Oh, joy, when the girdle of England What moment in life is so conscious of love, So rich in the tenderest sweetness of tears? ECHO UPON THE GEMMI. WHAT beast of chase hath broken from the cover? Stern Gemmi listens to as full a cry, As e'er did ring the heights of Latmos over, Impetuous motion to the stars above her. Of aëry voices locked in unison,- So, from the body of one guilty deed, thousand ghostly fears, and haunting thoughts, proceed! The beauty of Florence, the grandeur of PROCESSIONS. SUGGESTED ON A SABBATH Even such, this day, came wafted on the MORNING IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNY. (fair breeze From a long train-in hooded vestments To appease the gods; or public thanks to Enwrapt-and winding, between Alpine yield; Or to solicit knowledge of events, And thus, in order, 'mid the sacred grove Fed in the Libyan waste by gushing wells, The priests and damsels of Ammonian Jove Provoked responses with shrill canticles; While, in a ship begirt with silver bells, They round the altar bore the horned god, Old Cham, the solar deity, who dwells Aloft, yet in a tilting vessel rode, trees [prayer Spiry and dark, around their house of Below the icy bed of bright Argentiere. Trembling, I look upon the secret springs When universal sea the mountains over- And marvel not that antique faith inclined flowed. To crowd the world with metamorphosis, Vouchsafed in pity or in wrath assigned : Such insolent temptations wouldst thou miss, [dark abyss ! Avoid these sights; nor brood o'er fable's * This procession is a part of the sacramental service performed once a month. In the valley of Engelberg we had the good fortune to be present at the grand festival of the virgin-but the procession on that day, though consisting of upwards of 1000 persons, assembled from all the branches of the sequestered valley, was much less striking (notwithstanding the sublimity of the surrounding scenery) it wanted both the simplicity of the other, and the accompaniment of the glacier columns, whose sisterly resemblance to the moving figures gave it a most beautiful and solemn peculiarity. |